A manufacturing planning and execution computing system may be used in a manufacturing environment that produces products according to a demand for those products. Such a system may be able to control and track the operation of the manufacturing process, and uses predefined manufacturing process master data that typically is made up of many defined execution operations and activities. Each of the separate execution activity definitions may include, for example, what the inputs to the operation are, what machinery (or resource) must, or may, be used in the operation, and what the output of the operation is. This predefined master data also typically defines a process flow, or linkage, between each of the individual manufacturing operations and activities. This process flow may be referred to as a routing. During execution of the system, the system controls and tracks each of the operations in the overall process.
The manufacturing process master data and routing definitions are, in a typical case, defined by a process designer or engineer. The master data and routing definitions typically define each of the operations of the manufacturing process in detail, and how each of the operations relates to other operations. The manufacturing master data and routing definitions are generally defined up front, before the manufacturing process is ever run, and are generally not changed very frequently. In other words, the master data and routing definitions are not intended to be changed on a day-to-day basis, but rather are set up at the beginning to achieve an efficiently operating manufacturing entity.
In many cases, there may be a portion of a production process, which may be referred to as segment, that is used in multiple different manufacturing processes that produce different products, but where in each of the different manufacturing processes the same manufacturing segment is executed in the same manner and produces the same intermediate product. In addition, there are manufacturing processes used to produce the same product in different manufacturing facilities may be different from one another, although some parts of the process may be performed in exactly the same way and produce exactly the same intermediate product. The job of creating and maintaining manufacturing master data that defines a manufacturing process for a particular end product may be a time-consuming process, especially in a case where product designs may change very quickly.